The transfer of immigration and border control powers to Catalonia, as agreed on Monday, March 3rd, marks an unprecedented step for Spain. Under the agreement between the governing socialist PSOE and the separatist Junts per Catalunya, the Catalan regional government will assume a key role in migration management, including the authority to process and enforce deportations, administer Foreign Internment Centers (CIE), and manage residence and work permits.
While Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez continues to cede state power to the separatists propping up his government, the European Union remains conspicuously silent—in contrast with its swift reactions to alleged rule-of-law violations by conservative governments. Despite warnings that the Sánchez government’s actions could violate the rule of law, the European Commission has yet to take a position on the 2023 Amnesty Law, which granted pardons to people involved in the 2017 referendum. Commission sources indicated that the evaluation process would take time, but more than a year has passed, and Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has still not provided a clear response.
The centre-right Popular Party, despite being Spain’s largest party in the European Parliament and the largest party in the Spanish parliament, has failed to mount a strong opposition. Its complaints to the EU and the Constitutional Court have been weak and lack the strength needed to halt the dismantling of the state.
One of the most controversial aspects of the new powers handed over to Catalonia is that the regional police, known as the Mossos d’Esquadra, will share control of ports, airports, and borders with the National Police and the Civil Guard. While cooperation between security forces is a fundamental principle of state administration, this concession grants the Catalan regional police an unprecedented role in an area traditionally under the exclusive jurisdiction of the central government.
The Catalan government will even be able to determine policies regarding foreign workers. Additionally, it will be able to issue NIEs (Foreigner Identification Number), until now a responsibility of the central administration.
The Spanish government is justifying this under Article 150.2 of the Constitution, which allows the delegation of state powers to autonomous communities. However, the agreement has sparked concern in some sectors, as this measure gives the idea that Catalonia is almost an independent state.
Another crucial aspect is the expansion of the Mossos: their force will increase to 26,800 officers, granting them unprecedented operational capacity within Catalonia. Critics see this increase in personnel, combined with control over certain aspects of security in critical infrastructures, as another step towards consolidating a separatist-oriented police force.
Junts and the Catalan government have hailed this agreement as a milestone in self-governance. At the same time, the opposition is warning that it grants Catalonia powers that de facto bring it closer to state-like management of migration policy. The transfer therefore reopens the debate on Spain’s unity and sets a precedent that other regions with separatist aspirations, such as the Basque Country, could use.
The move reinforces a trend of recent years in which separatists through political agreements achieve what they failed to obtain after the illegal independence referendum in 2017. Catalonia has already secured a €17 billion debt write-off, the delegation of tax collection, and now control over migration policy. The next step in the separatist roadmap is clear: an independent judiciary and a negotiated referendum.
